The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) is making hay while the sun shines. I do not blame them.

The recent past is too fresh in their minds to realise that with a Labour government they will certainly not be in a position to protest – neither in the streets nor elsewhere!

When the MUT ordered its members to take very partial industrial action, hundreds of teachers were unceremoniously locked out and the socialist regime did its very best to starve and humiliate us. Thanks to the generosity of some, we did not starve, but humiliated we certainly were. And how!

When the MUT was forced to call off the strike, it had to accept the most humiliating conditions. It had to accept the mass transfer of all those members who had obeyed the union’s legitimate directives. It was the minister who decided when teachers should return to work and many of them were physically assaulted when they did so.

We were asked to sign a declaration that we would not abide by the union’s directives and the MUT’s offices were broken into and ransacked by a

number of thugs.

What did the MUT do on these occasions? What protest did the MUT lodge when Mintoff reduced the

public holidays? What help was forthcoming from the General Workers’ Union?

And, just to remind you, when the Nationalist government was returned to power in 1987, thousands of liri were distributed among the teachers to make good for the injustices suffered under previous socialist regimes.

If only I could bring Dom Mintoff back!

Giov. DeMartino

MOSTA